### <a name="Welcome_to_the_GnuSkin"> </a> Welcome to the [[GnuSkin]]

So named because of the hidden Gnu head and, of course, its simplistic design. It was originally designed for [the GNU Hurd](http://hurd.gnufans.org/) wiki, but is now easily available to other people as well. See the historic notes, below, for more trivia.

The [[GnuSkin]] is conceived to be simple and functional, providiing a basic, yet useful environment suitable for production use. It uses the [[WebMenu]] concept, first introduced by the [[TigerSkin]], and reintroduces the WEBLOGO idea making it possible to completely tailor fit the looks of the TWiki.

See it in action on the [[HurdWiki]]:Hurd/

**_Features:_**

* Top menubar including the main features of the TWiki

* Per-web configurable navigation bar on the left hand side, content on the right

* Per web configurable logotypes.

**_Installation:_**

See [[GnuSkinInstall]] for details of download and installation instructions.

**_Plugins:_**

The [[GnuSkin]] comes with a plugin - see [[GnuSkinPlugin]] - which acts as a kind of engine. It inserts items such as the left hand menu by reading the [[WebMenu]] topic.

The [[GnuSkin]] can also be used with the [[SessionPlugin]] - it then allows logon and session management.

## <a name="History"> History </a>

Originally the idea of using a skin different from the original TWiki look was born on [the Hurd wiki](http://vmlinux.org/twiki/bin/view/Hurd/). Unfortunately the available skins and plugins where either too bloated or only designed for one type of user agent in mind.

The idea of the [[GnuSkin]] was born. It started out as a rip off the famous [[TigerSkin]]. Since then almost all of the templates have been remade, leaving only the Perl plugin part relativly unchanged.

The design was inteded to more like a general [GNU](http://www.gnu.org) web page with a lean &amp; simple interface, yet still good looking and stylish. At the time [the Hurd website](http://hurd.gnu.org) modeled for the looks and on top of that a few bells and whistles from TWiki was added.

## <a name="Contact_Information"> Contact Information </a>

For help and advice, please email %MAINWEB%.JoachimNilsson, or make use of the [[GnuSkinPluginDev]] public forum.

To see what is being working on and what is planned for upcoming releases, see [[GnuSkinTodo]].